People v. Rance
| Decision Date | 31 May 1996 |
| Citation | 227 A.D.2d 936,644 N.Y.S.2d 447 |
| Parties | PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Katherine A. RANCE, Appellant. |
| Court | New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division |
Linda S. Reynolds by Robert Hallborg, Jr., Buffalo, for appellant.
Kevin M. Dillon by Raymond Herman, Buffalo, for respondent.
Before DENMAN, P.J., and PINE, FALLON, BALIO and BOEHM, JJ.
At approximately 2:50 P.M. on February 3, 1994, a Town of Tonawanda police officer received a radio dispatch that an anonymous informant had reported that an intoxicated woman was leaving a business establishment at 2690 Sheridan Drive, and was entering the driver's seat of a red Oldsmobile with a particular license plate number. The officer arrived at that address within minutes and observed a red Oldsmobile with that plate number backing out of a space in the parking lot. The officer pulled up behind the vehicle to block its path and then approached defendant, the driver, to request her license and registration. Defendant, the only person in the vehicle, said that her license had been suspended. She mumbled as she spoke and her eyes were "glassy and watery". The officer asked defendant to perform field sobriety tests, but defendant refused. She was thereafter arrested for driving while intoxicated and aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle in the first degree.
Defendant contends that Supreme Court erred in denying her motion to suppress all evidence obtained by the police following the automobile stop, which defendant contends was unlawful. We disagree. The information in the radio dispatch provided reasonable suspicion to believe that defendant had committed or was about to commit a crime, thereby justifying a stop of the vehicle (see, People v. May, 81 N.Y.2d 725, 727, 593 N.Y.S.2d 760, 609 N.E.2d 113). Police action may be based upon information from an anonymous source where, as here, it relates to "matters gravely affecting personal or public safety" (People v. Taggart, 20 N.Y.2d 335, 343, 283 N.Y.S.2d 1, 229 N.E.2d 581, mot. to amend remittitur granted, 21 N.Y.2d 729, 287 N.Y.S.2d 695, 234 N.E.2d 714, rearg. denied 21 N.Y.2d 774, 288 N.Y.S.2d 1029, 235 N.E.2d 228, appeal dismissed, 392 U.S. 667, 88 S.Ct. 2317, 20 L.Ed.2d 1360; cf., People v. Burpee, 175 A.D.2d 585, 572 N.Y.S.2d 250, lv. denied, 79 N.Y.2d 825, 580 N.Y.S.2d 205, 588 N.E.2d 103).
We reject defendant's further contention that the court erred in failing to conduct a hearing to...
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